Celebrate Mid-Autumn

In a year, our RC would organise many events and activities for us to participate. The Mid-Autumn Festival was one of them. We brought the children down to join in the atmosphere and fun. They gave out free lanterns and mooncake.

Then they organised group walks through the estate as we carried our lanterns.

There were also games..

All of us had a great time just by being there and soaking in the atmosphere..

Picnic at Botanical Gardens

Our cell group organised a picnic at Botanical Gardens. As usual, we had lots of food. There were hotdogs with long sausages. I prepared konnayaku jelly as well as potato salad. Also had fried rice, fried chicken wings, potato chips, fruits.

The kids had lots of fun as Liping brought fish food to feed the fishes in the pond.

Ended up, the birds and terrapins also came along and joined in the food party

Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Seminar

From end of last year, I have been leading a team of 2 other Math teachers in the implementation of the Mathematics Syllabus in 2013. We tried out the new syllabus in our school by identifying one class and teaching the curriculum to them. The focus that MOE wants is more on learning experience rather than just chalk and board. It hasnt been easy as we had numerous meetings in Teachers' Network, Grange Road as well as meetings in school to discuss on what interesting lessons we can come up with. Nevertheless, slowly but surely, we managed to pull through and complete our project by documenting all our lessons in a CD. And because of the hard work my team has put in, I accepted the invitation to share our experience with the Secondary Math Teachers in Singapore through a seminar at NUS High. I thought, "might as well since we have already all the resources..."

Surprisingly, the guest of honour was my ex-principal from Greenview, Mr Sin.

During the break, I had a chance to catch up with him and talk about the past and present. Our keynote speaker for the seminar was Prof Lee Peng Yee. For those of you who remember, Prof Lee Peng Yee's name appear in many of our Mathematics Textbooks. After my morning session sharing with the teachers, I had a chance to speak with him and talk to him more about what he mentioned during his speech and how we can adopt that into our present day education.

I had a great time learning from him through our conversation. To be honest, I was amazed by my own guts to approach such 'big' shots and talk to them. But my desire to learn more from people was so strong that I didnt really bother about my 'face' or whatever. I just had to grab the opportunity to learn as such opportunities do not come by often. The other amazing thing I noticed was how Mr Sin and Prof Lee came early for the morning session and stayed throughout by waiting for the next afternoon session, considering how senior they were in the education circle. Most 'VIP' would usually come late and go off early as they need to rush off somewhere, someplace...but they were different and that amazes me to see such great humility and dedication from them. During this whole day seminar, we had morning session from the west and south zone schools while the afternoon sessions were from the north and east zone schools. So in between, me and my colleagues had lots of time to spend at NUS High so much so that I brought along my marking of prelim papers. We probably had about 5 hours!

Our session in the afternoon was not as good...as we were all tired already. But still, we did what we could and shared.

Nevertheless, I was proud of my colleagues and was glad to be able to do this with them.

Arofanatics Carnival 2011

Today, CT brought the family to a carnival organised by a group of arowana fish lovers. He knew of this carnival as his colleague is part of the club. So anyway, it was held in Pasir Ris Farmway and since it was so near our place, we dropped by with the children. It was held in OTF- the usual fish shop which I always frequent to buy my fishes, plants and fish food.

The place was crowded with cars all parked along the road..massive jam. Nevertheless, we managed to find a lot along some grass patch.

There was free popcorn, italian gelato with various flavours like green tea...Also had free cotton candy which surprisingly, the kids didnt enjoy. There was also free balloon sculpturing for the children. I love looking at fishes but still do not understand why people would pay so much for an arowana or luo han fish.

There were various competitions going on during the carnival and when I saw the fish or sting rays that were the top 3 positions, I just cant understand what makes them so good.

Oh well..anyway, I am just happy with my ornamental fishes in my small fish tank. Anyway, after the visit, we went for dinner nearby at a coffee shop in Elias where the kids had a go at a retro playground which is probably not a common sight anymore since most playgrounds now have nice soft padded and colourful floor, with colourful plastic structure.

Though the newer playgrounds seem all so fun and attractive but there's just the feel of the old which will somehow make me feel that simplicity is the best!

Keelia's birthday

My sister-in-law's daughter, Keelia had her birthday celebration at Pasir Ris Costa Sands Resort.

It was an enjoyable time as all the kids came together to play.

Caleb and Danielle loves drawing in the sand. Simple things like that make them happy. The adults could certainly learn a thing or two from kids.

After spending some time playing with the sand, we went back to the chalet as it was getting dark. It was also time for cake cutting!

Danielle was quite enthusiastic about celebrating Keelia's birthday.

All of us had a great time. May Keelia grow up to be a beautiful and good girl!